Boat crashes to highway from trailer

A helper checks the boat for damage after it fell off a trailer on to State Highway 11. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A boatie's worst nightmare came true for a Bay of Islands man whose pride and joy fell off a trailer on to State Highway 11.

The accident happened about noon yesterday as the man was towing his boat, a 5.5m fibreglass Haines Signature called Latoya, from Haruru Falls to Paihia for what should have been a day on the water.

As he was driving over Kaipatiki Stream bridge, the boat broke free and dropped on to the road, leaving scrape marks about 15m long down the highway.

The accident left one lane of Puketona Rd closed for about an hour.

A forklift from a Haruru Falls business lifted the damaged boat on to a tow truck.

Northland Towing's Tiny Dawson gives directions as the damaged boat is lifted on to a tow truck using a forklift from a nearby business.

The boat's owner, who did not want to be named, said he made the "silly mistake" of getting someone else to look if the boat was properly secured and not checking it properly himself.

"I'm just very happy that no one got hurt. It was very lucky," he said.

The damage to the boat and outboard did not appear to be as bad as he had feared. The boat was 10 years old but had been meticulously cared for, he said.

It is not the first time a boat has ended up on that stretch of SH11.

On New Year's Day this year a brazen thief stole a car with a boat and trailer attached from a Paihia motel. The owner, a holidaymaker from Auckland, saw his boat vanish down the driveway and gave chase in another vehicle.

The boat was not yet attached properly so fell off at the roundabout at the intersection of Marsden Rd and Puketona Rd.

The thief continued driving for about 500m, dragging the boat along the highway, before abandoning the car and badly damaged boat at the top of the first hill and fleeing on foot into bush.